| I can't believe it's only been a week, but I can't believe it's already been a whole week! The week was a whirlwind of new names, new faces, new curriculum, new food, new places, new language, new lifestyle. There was a lot of change, a lot of chameleon-like action, and a lot of notable moments. It seems like I've been in Darwin forever; it is a place I'm learning to call home. But I also cannot believe it's already been an entire week. When my time here is so limited--because yes there is an end point--it's crazy to think that I'm already one week down. After the busy week I had, I was very much ready for the weekend. I got a bit of a shock coming out of school on Friday, when Blake was there calling out my name to pick me up from school--usually that would be Roger. As it turns out, one of Kaye's teachers at her school made something that she had an allergic reaction to, and she ended up spending six hours Friday afternoon in the hospital. Because of that, on top of school work that we both had to get done, the weekend became a very chill time. Friday night Roger and I had dinner together--a chicken wrapped in pastry, with mashed potatoes. Saturday morning I went to a local market, where I shopped around for a few hours. It was bloody hot though, so as I sat eating my egg, cheese, and bacon crepe, i was dripping with sweat. By the time Roger picked me up, I had a nice, cold strawberry-banana smoothie (best I've ever had) in my hand, and I looked like I had just gotten out of a shower--with sweat as the shower's water. I got home in the early afternoon, and spent the next few hours cooling off in the pool outside, reading a book for pleasure (SHOCKING, I KNOW. Cannot think of the last time I had the time to do this....except the 31 hour plane journey where I started the book.) After my relaxing couple of hours I decided to do the dreadful laundry I had been putting off all week. In Darwin it is very common to own a washing machine but never a dryer. So I put my clothes in the washing machine for an hour and then spent about 20 minutes hanging them on a clothes line to dry. Reminded me of the time in Ghana where we got in trouble for hanging a clothes line outside of our chalet. There, we had to hang our clothes line across our tiny bedroom. It was much more pleasant to have the clothes hanging to dry outside downstairs, away from dripping water on my bed this time. For dinner we had sausage wrapped in pastry with chips, good conversation and a bottle of wine. Sunday morning I woke to Roger cooking breakfast--eggs and bacon on a roll. We had a few visitors, and we sat outside for the morning with them. We were planning to have a dinner party that night. A cricket coach that coaches with Kaye was coming to visit Darwin for a few days, and he was staying with us. Kaye and Roger had invited about 10 of their friends, and we were going to have a lamb feast for dinner. In the meantime, while Kaye did the shopping and picking up her guest from the airport, I ventured out to the shopping centre in Causarina--Darwin's mall. It was a typical mall, much like a mall in the States. I picked up some gear to be prepared to go hiking and do some outdoors activities while I'm here--I certainly did not come prepared for that plus the heat! From the shopping centre, though Roger dropped me off and offered to pick me up, I decided to try out the bus system. It was quite easier than expected--and much cleaner! The entire time I was waiting for the bus I was sitting next to a trash can, the only place on the bench available, thinking of the stories my uncle would tell me about taking the city bus into Detroit for work. That was the kind of bus experience I was expecting, and it was so much more tame, uneventful, and boring that I imagined. Although I did get off at one stop too late. So my marking point at the end of the street I live on--the McDonalds (Maccas, as they refer to it in Australia)--passed by the bus windows as I watched, and I had about a 2-mile walk from the next stop, back home. Which wouldn't be bad if it wasn't 100 degrees. There was also a very creepy tree along the way. From far away you could tell there was a face in the tree. It was made out of pop cans and aluminum, dug into the trunk of the tree, staring, waiting, watching. Later that evening our guests arrived for dinner, and it was such a splendid evening. There was a lot of red wine, a lot of red meat, and a lot of red faces from laughter shared. You know, my first night in Cape Coast, once we all were placed in our chalets, I questioned why I ever thought going on the trip was a good idea. I really did not think I was going to make it; it was so different from anything I've ever known. In so many ways, Darwin is an entirely new world too. But I'm not scared. I'm not questioning it. This place is something special. And these next six weeks hold so much opportunity. |